“Yeah, I didn’t know what it was either until he told me. Social engineering can be used as a very efficient tool in discovering passwords for web services. It’s based around finding out the hobbies, interests or personal details of the person in question. For example, by engaging him in a specific conversation and asking him certain questions, you can get to know a lot of things about his private life. You have to bear in mind that lots of people use their personal information as passwords.
James looked thoughtful, giving the impression that he was among them. “But… your friend didn’t speak to Richard, right?”
Mary burst out laughing. Then she kissed him to calm him down. “No, but he used something they call ‘Xploits’.”
“‘Xploits’? What’s that?”
“It’s a software application that again uses social engineering to try and steal the user’s password. They somehow replicate the homepage of the e-mail client used by the victim. The page created looks identical at first glance, but how it works internally is completely different.”
“I’m not understanding any of this,” said James, a little apprehensive and still worried.
“It’s very easy, I caught it straight away. When I spoke to Marcus, I told him that Richard was an archaeologist who was working with us on a site in Mexico. That’s where he first started to deploy social engineering. He sent an anonymous e-mail to his personal account with the title: NEW DISCOVERIES IN TEOTIHUACAN. When Richard opened it, instead of seeing the body of the message, he saw the webpage designed by Marcus, which was an exact copy of the one he uses to access his e-mails. Richard must have thought that he had lost his internet connection and that he had been logged out, so he inputted his details again, including his password. Cue the program’s internal code, which stored those details and sent them to Marcus without Richard realizing.”
“Brilliant! I would have fallen for that, too!”
“And me!” smiled Mary.
“What happens after the details are inputted?”
“The program automatically redirects the user to the genuine webpage, but it uses the real information which has already been typed in to log in. That way the victim doesn’t realize that anything has happened.”
“And what if he goes to open the e-mail again?”
“He won’t be able to. It is automatically deleted when it is read for the first time.”
“Incredible!”
“When Marcus gave me the password, I had a look through his e-mails. You’re not going to believe what I found.”
James’ face dropped. His well-defined facial features, which before showed surprise and admiration, were now marred with hesitation and unease at what his friend had said. Deeply saddened, he waited for her to input the address and password into the e-mail client’s webpage. What he was about to see would make his heart skip a beat.
Chapter 50
The inbox only contained three e-mails - the others had probably been erased. The first two were typical advertisements with which travel agents bombard people. Inside, they named the most important tourist areas of Mexico, as well as giving a detailed list of hotels in which to spend a pleasant holiday.
It seemed that Richard had searched for archaeological information on some website and it had made him register. These pages usually always assault their members with piles of advertisements which end up straight in the wastepaper basket, without even having been read.
The third e-mail had no sender, and in its place appeared “P2.3.45”.
It was a reply to a previous e-mail. Luckily, the sender had chosen to reply to the e-mail itself without creating a new one. This meant that the message thread remained, allowing them to see what Richard had written previously.
Mary spoke nervously. “We can’t tell who wrote the e-mail, but it gives us some very important information. The first one is a reply to an e-mail previously sent by Richard. That one appears written just below.”
James frowned. He wasn’t ready to read it but he had to do it. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with air, and he started reading. The message was as follows:
____________________________
RE: Today is the day.
From: P2.3.45 at 6:58am
To: [email protected]
Everything has been organized. When you have the second fragment in your possession, discreetly move away from them. The assassins we have hired will quietly bring the job to a close without leaving a trace.
When everything is over, make your way to the foot of the Pyramid of the Moon. A man in a red cap will be waiting for you. Give him the password and he will guide you to the platform where the helicopter will land.
The password is: “Could you give me a ride?”
The answer: “Only if you don’t break in two.”
____________________________
From: [email protected] at 6:40am
To: P2.3.45
Subject: Today is the day.
They’re starting to suspect. We can’t wait any longer, we have to act today. Tell me when you will take action and find me a means of escape. I’ve attached precise information about the area. When I have the object, they will no longer be of use. Act accordingly.
____________________________
The body of the message came as a blow to the professor’s cool head. Even though the evidence had been clear, until that moment he had kept a flicker of hope that his friend was innocent. Now, that had vanished. Richard hadn’t only used them for his own ends, he intended to get rid of them so that nobody else would know about the Trifariam. It wasn’t the Richard that James knew. He had turned into a mean, ruthless and despicable person.
“What can we do?” asked Mary.
Although her face remained calm, and she even smiled occasionally, her shaking arms gave her away. She was very nervous. Perhaps the emotion of having discovered Richard’s plans had given her some kind of hope she didn’t have before.
“When we find the object… we have to kill him. It’s the only way.”
Mary spun round towards him. “Kill him?!”
“Yes,” replied James, wide-eyed and very nervous. “What else can we do?! When we find the next fragment, we won’t be of use anymore. We have to keep on top of his plans. Until now, he was the one who was informing them of our movements, that’s how they knew where we were. With Richard out of the way, we could run away and hide. Nobody would find us!”
“But James, I… It’s just - “
“You can’t do it, right?”
“We’re talking about taking somebody’s life. They’re big words.”
“Mary, if we don’t do it… they’ll kill us without a second thought.”
“Would you dare to do it?”
James took a deep breath. He felt a crushing sense of guilt at having thought about killing somebody. “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see when the time comes. We have no choice.”
The alarm clock on the bedside table began to ring. It was half past eight in the morning and Richard could be waiting for them downstairs in the hotel suite. They had to hurry up. They couldn’t raise his suspicions even more.
Chapter 51
Coincidence or not, it was the same taxi driver who again took them to the ruins of Teotihuacan. James was at first extremely reluctant to get into the vehicle, he had a strong hunch that the taxi driver was part of Richard’s harebrained plan to take control of the first two fragments. Meanwhile, Richard hadn’t picked up on the worries that his friend seemed to have and he quickly sat down in the back of the taxi.
On the way to the complex, none of them uttered a word. If it hadn’t been for the background music to liven up the journey, anybody would have thought they were on their way to a funeral. James didn’t take his right hand off of Mary’s. He often squeezed it as if by reflex action, with that simple gesture transmitting all the affection he felt towards her. They could both see what was coming.
The taxi dropped them at the same place as last time.
Th
ere were many more people in the abandoned city than there had been the day before. They immediately made their way to the Pyramid of the Sun, making their way along the Avenue of the Dead as quickly as they could. On the way they came across a group of tourists who were obviously early-risers, led by a guide who apparently hadn’t yet woken up. Obviously they had chosen to look at the ruins as early as possible so as to avoid the throngs of people.
“It’s still open!” exclaimed Richard, unable to contain his glee as he pointed to the entrance of the well.
They slowly walked over.
“Do you think they’ll be working inside? Isn’t it weird that it’s open at this time?”
James spoke so quietly that it was a murmur only audible to Mary.
“Come on, get down there!” interrupted Richard with an air of superiority. “Nobody is watching us right now.”
James cast him the first look of the day and although he had seemed distant until then, he spoke to him with restraint. “And what if there’s somebody down there?”
“He’s right,” continued Mary. “Maybe we should wait until they take a break.”
“I don’t get you two. Yesterday in plain daylight, you were hell-bent on entering and yet today, when there’s nobody around, you don’t dare. What’s the matter with you?” As Richard asked the question he raised his voice, he seemed angry.
“Look!” exclaimed Mary. “The fencing and the sign that prohibited access have disappeared.”
How strange, he thought. “Okay, let’s go in - but keep together. Something isn’t right.”
James was the first to descend and he didn’t do so until he could be absolutely sure that nobody was watching them. The archaeologist and the paleographer followed behind, taking the same precautions.
The tunnel was still poorly lit. Even one of the bulbs that had been working fine the day before had now blown. They couldn’t hear anything, only the crunching of the odd stone beneath their feet broke the eerie silence that enveloped the pathway.
When they reached the end, James stopped them from going any further by blocking their way with his right arm, while he put his finger to his lips, indicating that they should remain quiet.
In the anonymity given to them by the darkness, the trio looked at the magnificent cavern that opened up before them and which somehow seemed different to the day before. The vast quantity of latest generation computer equipment that had been set up first thing in the morning had drastically spoilt the magic of the place, creating an ambiguous blend of modernity and antiquity.
Suddenly they were hit by a waft of fresh air coming from the roof. Their hair stood on end. They had the feeling that somebody was watching them, it was as if their breath was blowing on their necks. They looked up, fearful of finding a strange face looking back at them who would reprimand them and demand to know what they were doing. They smiled when they saw that the breeze was coming from two enormous revolving fans that tried to keep the room temperature constant, preventing the powerful machinery from overheating.
“There’s nobody there,” remarked James in astonishment, keeping his voice down as he further entered the cavern.
The computers were switched on but the monitors had turned themselves off after being inactive for a long period of time; a good way of saving energy.
Something caught Mary’s eye; she walked over to one of the side tables, picked up one of the many plastic cups that contained a black liquid and smelled it.
“Is it coffee?” asked James.
“Yeah, but it’s cold. I think it’s been here for a few hours.”
“Isn’t it a little odd that they make enough coffee for an army and nobody drinks it? Something big must have happened here for them all to have left.”
Mary turned around looking for Richard to see what he thought, but he had vanished. She was just about to ask James when all her doubts faded away when she heard the paleographer’s voice behind her.
“Shit, look at this! They’ve left it open!”
Although they couldn’t see where he was at first, they followed the racket of his laughter.
He was standing in front of one of the four doors which had been locked the day before. The one with the triangular symbol was open!
They stood just behind him, in the doorway but without going in. Their eyes blinked for at least a minute which seemed to go on forever. What they were seeing was truly incredible.
Chapter 52
It was a room adjacent to the previous one, of a similar size though perhaps a little smaller. It was around five hundred and forty square feet and set out in such a splendid way that there was hardly any free space. It was round and nothing like the previous one. While it had been dug out and carved to perfection, the one before looked like an old primitive cave. The ground was covered with a kind of grey stone where the pieces fitted together perfectly and with the precision of a fraction of an inch. The roof was high, about sixteen feet tall, and was complete with a rudimentary lighting system based on the use of oil.
James stood in the doorway, more out than in, looking on as he watched his friends carefully comb the chamber. A nauseating odor coming from inside tried to make its way out, and although his two friends didn’t seem to mind, he was extremely fastidious. He had already had to stop himself from retching twice.
“It’s incredible!” exclaimed Richard.” It looks nothing like the part outside.”
James eventually decided to go inside, but only after he had covered his nose and mouth with a white cotton handkerchief that he found in one of his side pockets. Obviously that place had remained sealed up for many years and, at last, somebody had opened it.
He first walked clockwise around the chamber, staring dumbfounded at all the engravings which covered the walls. He sometimes softly ran his fingers over them, stroking the delicate reliefs and often detecting the fine cracks produced after putting the various stone blocks together, ones that not even a pin could fit through. It immediately reminded him of the precision in construction possessed by the Ancient Egyptians.
The walls were full of planetary representations, the most common feature among them being the Sun. Mary flinched slightly when she saw a gigantic mosaic which represented our solar system with incredible accuracy. On the adjacent walls were more illustrations which had been chiseled, although in this case they seemed to be of other solar systems different to ours, and of which the trio had no knowledge.
The center of the chamber was a complete mystery. A huge altar towered over them, similar to the type used by the Christian community to celebrate the Eucharist. It was made of stone, or more specifically marble. The upper part was rectangular in shape and of significant thickness, around eight inches, which had been perfectly polished. The lower part consisted of just one thick slab of marble about 3 feet tall, which acted as the legs.
The altar was surrounded by a large number of pillars which formed a perfect circle; they weren’t very thick, but were apparently resistant nonetheless. The pillars rose up, twisting back on themselves up to a height of eight feet, where a gigantic circular piece of rock that gently rested on top of them and acted as the roof.
“What do you think could be on top of that block?” asked Mary, intrigued.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think the second fragment is up there. That would be too easy. James, get on top of my shoulders and we’ll check.”
James agilely climbed onto Richard’s shoulders while he was squatting and then proceeded lifted him up into the air as if he were a small backpack weighing a couple of pounds.
He quickly staggered over to one of the pillars and tried to stand on his tiptoes so that his friend could reach the ceiling more easily. Meanwhile, James had no qualms about clambering on top of the paleographer and showed no signs of being scared of the whole thing coming crashing down.
“You’re not gonna believe what’s up there.”
From that gigantic block that seemed to rest on the tallest pillar and reached up to th
e cavern ceiling, there was another seven feet, more or less. But in spite of the enthusiasm shown by his two friends, what had to be up there, judging by James’ tone of voice, was completely different from what they were looking for.
“What can you see?”
James kept quiet and looked in disbelief at what his eyes were showing, rubbing them several times as if it were an optical illusion.
“Tell us! What can you see?”
He eventually replied. “There seems to be four rectangular sarcophaguses made from marble with a number of engravings on each of their faces, but I don’t understand them. Maybe it’s inside one of them.”
“Impossible,” declared Mary, stood stock still. “Come down, the fragment isn’t there.”
“What?…How do you know?”
“The most recent findings in this area suggest that the city was led by a government of four kings or priests. This meant that they would be stronger in the event of enemy attacks, or if one of the kings was kidnapped. Until now, it’s just been a theory that quickly caught on in the archaeological community, even though their tombs had not been found. But now that they have, the theory could be correct.”
“Are you implying that these sarcophaguses are the tombs of the ancient monarchs?”
Richard was hoping for a clear and concise answer.
“Of course, it’s obvious. It all started when a vessel was discovered which depicted the four great leaders around a Teotihuacan divinity. They later found administrative structures which were divided into four parts, as if there were four individuals who made the decisions. And now we’re standing in front of four sarcophaguses hidden in a cave under the Pyramid of the Sun. They have to be their tombs. Anyway, we’re forgetting what the book says.”
“You’re right,” said James as he clambered down and dropped to the floor.
“The last four lines are the ones which refer to the precise location of the hidden object.” Richard read them out aloud again.
Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012) Page 30
